Street-sweeping machine



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

G. E. WOODBURY. STREET SWEEPING MACHINE.

Nn. 274.164. Patented Manzo, 183s.

N. PERS. PhnlvLiihognpMr. Waxhingwn. D. CA

(No` Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

e. E. WOODB'URY. STREET SWBEPING MACHINE. No. 274,164. l Patented Mar. 20, `1883.

N. PETERS, PhLlMgmpher, Washngiun. DAC- UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.,

GEORGE E. WOODBURY, SAN FRANCISCO, GALFQRNIA.

STREET-SWEEPING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,164, dated March 20,1883. l Application meamy 5, ieee. (No modem To all whom it may concern y Be it known that I, GEORGE E. WOODBUT; Y,

vof the city andy county of San Francisco, in the State of California, havemade and invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street- Sweeping Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for cleaning streets.

It has for its Object to provide a machine simple in its construction andeft'ective in its operation of gathering, taking up, and collecting dirt and matter required to be removed from the surface of the street and roadways.

The following description explains the invention and the manner of constructing, using,

and operating the same.

In` the drawings herein referred to by letter, Figure 1 is an elevation of a machine constructed according to my invention, the view being a longitudinal section taken through the center of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan or top View of the machine with the elevator and dirtb-ox taken off. Fig. 3 is a view in detail, taken from the rear ofthe elevator, showing the manner of constructie g the box or receptacle into which the sweepin gs are deposited by the elevator. Fig. 4 is a section taken diametrically through one of the rotary brushes. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the cam for the brushlifting.

A A are the sidehars of the machine-frame, in which the two axles b c have bearings. The cross-bars B O at front and rear complete the frame. The side bars are carried upward and together at the front to form an arch or gnnsenecl1,to give room for cramping the front wheels.

The front axle is not attached directly to the frame, but is connected to the end of a central post formed of an `upright shaft, D, which has a screw-threaded portion and working through a threaded box, E, in the end,1 of theframe. The lower end of this post rests ina socket in the top of the axle-tree and forms the king-bolt of the front wheels, while the upper end Ais provided with a hand-wheel, F, by which the post or shaft can be rotated from the drivers seat. The entire frame of the machine is therefore supported at the front from this single point formed `of the box E, and the height of the machine-frame from the surface is readily changed by rotating the post 5 5 D. This enables the sweeping mechanism to be raised and held out ofaction, andthe working contact of the brushes with the surface beneath to be adj usted as required.

At each side of the frame, and about mid- 6o way between the two axles, are two short vertical shafts, g g, having a rotary motion. They are held in boxes It h on brackets IL L, bolted to the bars A B of the frame, and the rotary motion is derived from the rear axle through These brushes move in a horizontal plane, and 7 5 are driven with uniform speed with rotary motion toward each other by the forward movement of the machine. They act to sweep'the matter from each side of the path of the machine and gather it inward afid to the center. 8o

Being made of large diameter, they project beyond the sides of the machine and act upon a considerable extent of surface.

The brushes M consist of a number of segmental blocks, m, set loosely in recesses in a 85 revolving carrier, K, fixed to the lower end of the shaft g, and they are confined in position without horizontal play or movement, but are free to move independently of one another in a vertical direction in the confining-recess. 9o

Each block is provided with a means for holding it down to work against the surface with a yielding pressure, and also for lift-iu g up each one as it passes the center line atthe inner side, and holding it up clear of the street-surface while passing around at the rear from thc inside to the outside of the machine again.

`In their movement from the outside inward and toward the center ot' the machine, therefore, the brushes act against the street-surface, roo but in their movement back of the center and outward they are lifted and held out of action.

These up- 7o tion projecting over the center of each brushcompartment, and being secured at the inner ends to the hub; they are connected at the outer ends to the tops of the brush-blocks. Each brush is thus carried on the end of a spring-arm, by which a pressure, more or less yielding according to the power of the springs,

is applied upon the top of each brush. While being carried around in'the compartments the brushes are capable of a vertical movement independently of one another.

To lift and hold each brush out of action at the required time, the end of the spring-arm P is curved upwardly at the end, and is caused to strike against and ride up over a fixed camlplate or bar, as the block is carried around to the rear by the revolution of the carrier. This lifting device consists of the concentric plate or bar R, supported from the stationary frame above at several points by curved depending arms or brackets, one of which can be seen at the inner end of the plate where it is secured to the cross-bar B at S, and supports the end rof the plate. The upper face of this plate, at the inner end r,is inclined, so that the end of each spring engaging with this end of the plate shall ride up and pass around to the outer end of the plate, thereby raising up the brush-block and holding it out of action while this Contact with the incline continues. After passing to the outside ofthe machine the end of thespring slips oi from the outer end of the fixed incline R, and the brush is brought down into action again.- For co-operation with these revolving brushes I employa means of taking up and removing the matter as it is gathered in a row or heap under the center of the machine. This part of the machine consists of an elevator, T, formed of a number of buckets on an endless band, and moving upward in an inclosed compartment, t, the bottom ofwhich is areceivingchamber, a, while the top discharges into arbox or dirt-receptacle, W The elevator is therefore immediately over the curved apron e, which forms the bottom of the elevator-compartment. Across the lower edge of this apron an inclined shoe, X,extends downward to the streetsuiface, and immediately behind it is a horizontal cylindrical brush, Y, having a rotary motion imparted to it in a forward and upward direction. This shoe has an inclined bottom, so that it rides over the row of gathered dirt left behind thecircularbrushes,while the cylindrical brush works in such proximity to the edge and surfaeeof the shoe that the matter is caught and thrown upon the curved apron or bottom beneath the elevatorbuckets. This shoe is rendered adjustable with respect to the cylindrical brush Y, so that to the edge of the brush as it decreases by wear of the bristles. For this purpose the shoe is fixed to the ends of two swingingarms, w 1v, that extend downward and forward from a' loose collar on the rear axle. The shoe is then secured to these arms by inserting their ends through slots on the sides of the shoe and fastening them together by set-screws. as shown in detail view, Fig. la. This allows the shoe to be set up closer to the brush when required.

vA rear extension, w', of each arm is carried back beneath, and hears against a screw-rod, y, working through a nut in the rear bar, C, of the machine-frame.

The arms, collar, and extension are practically one piece, and by changing the length of these screws the arms can be raised or lowered to throw the brush and shoe to or from the street-surface, or to raise them up altogether out of action.

The elevator-belt travels over pulleys g q, journaled in the sides of the elevator-compartment, and its movement is obtained from the rear axle through the medium of pulleys LL, fixed thereon, and the cross-belts running to the pulleys e2 on the lower pulley-shalt.

The cylindrical brush Y is carried on a shaft, e, having bearings-in boxes e c. The outer ends of this shaftcarry pulleys f to receive and be driven by belts d d from hand-wheels Hon the rearax'le. Allthe working parts therefore derive motion from the gears and pulleysin this axle.

the lower edge can be set up in close relation IOO 4 The gear and pulley at each side of the machine are fixed together upon asingle hub or collar, which turns loosely on the axle, but is connected with and locked by a sliding clutch. This enables the brush-operating mechanism to be readily thrown into and out of action. To enable this to be done from the driver-s seat the two clutches o o are connected to the end of a draw-rod, N, by means of two elbowlevers, J J, having their fulcrum at the point-s J" J', on two fixed brackets on the frame.

Above the rear end of the machine is placed the dirt-receptacle, into which the elevatorbuckets discharge the matter raised from the surface below. This receptacle has two divisions or compartments, Z Z, each with an inclined self-discharging bottom, z, and an outlet at the side terminating .in a spout. Thisl receptacle is supported at such height above IIO the street-surfacethat there shall be sufficient room beneath the ends of these dischargespouts to permit a cart or wagon to draw up closely alongside the machine, and the compartment at that side is easily and quickly emptied of its contents through the inclined spout. These two compartments are arranged to be worked alternately, and as one is filled and is about being emptied through its spout 271,164 y av partments is carried longitudinally through the center of the receptacle, so that the elevvator-buclrets discharge directly over it, and

then a hinged valve-board, 1, fixed along the top ofV this dividing line or partition is made to act as a deiiector for one compartment or `the other, according to the directioninto which it sets. Two fixedstops, 2, on the back ofthe elevator-compartment serves to hold this valve in the inclinedposition to one side or the other.

To operate it from the front of the machine the rod is carried from the hinge of the v'alve out through the back of the receptacle W, and connection is then made by means ofthe belt or chain and pulleys with a rodextending' forward to the drivers seat. i

B v means of a hand-lever, 3, the rod is rotated and the valve-board readily thrown to the right or left.-

This mode of collecting sweepings, and, as the receptacles become filled,discharging their contents into carts to be conveyed away, ren-` ders the operation rapid and continuous.

"Theprincipleof gathering the dirt by a horizontal sweeping movement into heapsor rows enables such a machine .to operate without creating excessive dust and to work with a great degree of cleanliness withoutscattering.

Having thus fully described my invention,

`what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

il. In a streetsweeping machine, the combination of a pair of flat horizontallyrevolving brushes and vertical shafts thereof, with mechanism connected therewith, andoperated by the progression of the machine for giving them a rotary motion toward each other, substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a streetsweeping machine, the co1n' hination of the circular brushes, eachconsisting of a set of segmental brush-blocks loosely mounted in a revolving carrier, and mechanconnected thereunto for lifting up and holding the said blocks out of action at one point and during a portion of each revolution.

4. In a street-sweeping machine, the depending brush carrying arms or frame, suspended and fulcrumed from the rear axle, and having bearin gs for the cylindrical brush, the shoe secured to and capable of adjustment on the lower end s of the arms w and the adjusting-screws onthe machine-frame, operating on `the opposite end of the lever fw, allincombi` nation, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The circular brush mounted in a vertical shaft and adapted to have ahorizontal rotary motion, and consisting of a frame or carrier having brush-compartments, a hub carrying vertical spring-arms and a set of brush-blocks attached tothe outer ends of the springs,and having vertical play or movement in sald compartments, but confined thereon laterally.

6. The horizontally-traveling circular brush consisting of a carrier having a set of brush blocks mounted loosely thereon, a spring for holding each block with a yielding pressure against the surface beneath, and an inclined screw-threaded on a portion of its length `to work through the said box, and havingits lower end slipped in a socket on the center of the front axle, and provided with a halidwheel on its upper end, substantially as described. i

8. Ina street-sweeping machine', the combination, with the elevators, of the dirt-receptacle W, having two compartments, each provided with a discharge spout, the hinged valveor cut-oft', and means,substantially as described, for operating said valve or cut-oft'.

9. Thedirt-receptacle having compartments with inclined self-discharging bottoms z and inclined discharge spouts, in combination therewith, and the hinged valve or cut'offf, substantially as described.

Witness my. hand and seal.

y GEORGE E. woonuur. 7 p.. Si

Witnesses t EDWARD E. OsBoRN, D. SnLLnoK. i

IOO 

